Purpose
Produce a coherent set of career goal statements — spanning immediate, mid-career, and long-term horizons — each grounded in a specific rationale that ties the goal to the person's actual experience, strengths, values, and real-world constraints. Replaces vague aspirations ("I want to be in leadership") with articulable, defensible goals usable in interviews, MBA essays, and personal decision-making.
When to Use
Invoke this skill when the user asks to:
- Clarify or articulate their career goals or direction
- Prepare goal statements for an MBA application, "why MBA" essay, or admissions interview
- Develop a "where do you see yourself" answer for recruiting or interviews
- Evaluate or articulate a career pivot (function, industry, or role change)
- Align a long-term ambition with realistic near-term steps
- Resolve competing interests into a single coherent direction
Inputs Required
Before starting, collect:
- Background: Current/most recent role, function, industry, and years of experience
- Notable strengths: 3–5 skills, achievements, or capabilities they're known for
- Interests & motivators: What energizes them — problems they want to solve, industries that pull them, work they'd do unpaid
- Values/constraints: Non-negotiables — compensation floor, geography, lifestyle, family, risk tolerance, timeline
- Candidate directions: Any roles, functions, or industries they're already considering (if unsure, note that)
- Time horizon: How far out their long-term ambition reaches (e.g., 10-year, 15-year)
- Decision context: Why they're clarifying now — MBA essay, job search, pivot, annual planning
If candidate directions are missing, infer 2–3 plausible directions from background and interests and flag them as proposed rather than stated.
Instructions
Step 1: Synthesize the Profile
Distill the inputs into a one-paragraph profile that names the through-line connecting their background, strengths, and interests. Identify:
- Transferable core: The skill or domain that travels across directions
- Primary motivator: The single most consistent driver in their inputs
- Binding constraint: The constraint most likely to rule out otherwise attractive paths
Step 2: Define the Long-Term Anchor
Write one long-term goal statement (at the stated horizon) that the near-term goals will ladder up to. The anchor should be:
- Directional, not titular: Describe the impact and arena, not just a job title
- Ambitious but credible: A stretch from the current position, reachable in the stated timeframe
- Followed by a 2–3 sentence rationale tying it to the primary motivator and transferable core
Step 3: Generate Goal Statements Across 3 Horizons
For each horizon, produce one primary goal statement and one rationale.
Horizon 1 — Short-Term (0–2 years / immediate next role)
- The concrete next role, function, or move
- Rationale: how it builds the capability or credential the medium-term goal requires
Horizon 2 — Medium-Term (3–7 years)
- The role/position of expanded scope or transition point
- Rationale: how it bridges the short-term move to the long-term anchor
Horizon 3 — Long-Term (8+ years / the anchor from Step 2)
- Restate the anchor as the apex of the ladder
- Rationale: how the prior two horizons make this credible
Each statement must pass the alignment test: it draws on a named strength, satisfies the binding constraint, and serves the primary motivator. State explicitly which strength, constraint, and motivator each goal honors.
Step 4: Run the Alignment Check Across Horizons
Confirm the three horizons form a coherent ladder — that achieving each one materially enables the next. Flag any horizon that is a leap rather than a step, and note the missing rung.
Step 5: Gap Analysis
For the short-term and medium-term goals, identify what stands between the person and the goal:
- Capability gaps: Skills or experiences not yet held
- Credential gaps: Education, certification, or title prerequisites
- Network gaps: Relationships or access not yet built For each gap, name a specific way to close it (course, project, role, relationship).
Step 6: 90-Day Next-Action Plan
Three to five concrete actions the person can start within 90 days that move toward the short-term goal — each with a clear "done looks like" outcome. Actions must be controllable by the person, not dependent on others' decisions.
Step 7: Stated vs. Inferred Flag
If any candidate direction was inferred (Step 1 default), clearly mark which goals rest on inferred directions and recommend the user confirm or adjust.
Output Format
- Structure: Profile synthesis → long-term anchor → three horizon goal statements with rationales → cross-horizon alignment check → gap analysis → 90-day plan
- Length: 800–1,100 words
- Format: Structured document — short prose for synthesis and rationales; bulleted lists for gaps and the 90-day plan
- Sections: Profile Synthesis → Long-Term Anchor → Goal Statements (3 horizons) → Alignment Check → Gap Analysis → 90-Day Action Plan
- Tone: Coaching advisor — direct, decisive, and honest about trade-offs; never generic affirmation
Quality Checklist
Before delivering output, verify:
- [ ] Exactly three horizon goal statements are present, each with a distinct rationale
- [ ] Each goal statement names which strength, constraint, and motivator it honors
- [ ] The three horizons form a ladder — each goal materially enables the next (alignment check confirms this)
- [ ] Gap analysis names specific capability, credential, or network gaps — not generic "gain more experience"
- [ ] The 90-day plan has 3–5 actions, each fully within the person's control with a clear completion outcome
- [ ] Any inferred career direction is explicitly flagged as proposed, not stated
Notes
- The most common failure in career goals is a long-term anchor disconnected from the short-term move — the alignment check exists to catch exactly this.
- For MBA essays, the medium-term goal often carries the most weight; admissions readers test whether the short-term role plausibly produces the medium-term scope.
- When constraints and ambition conflict, name the trade-off explicitly rather than smoothing it over — a clarified tension is more useful than a comfortable but false goal.
- If the person is genuinely torn between two directions, generate the ladder once and note where the two paths diverge, so they can see the cost of each fork.
How to use this skill
This file is a Claude Code skill in Anthropic's standard format — markdown with YAML frontmatter at the top.
Installing in Claude Code:
~/.claude/skills/<folder-name>/SKILL.md— auto-loads in every session anywhere on your machine (recommended for skills you'll use across multiple projects)<your-project>/.claude/skills/<folder-name>/SKILL.md— auto-loads only when working in that project (recommended for project-specific skills)
Restart Claude Code or open a new session to register.
Using in Claude.ai, ChatGPT, Gemini, or other AI tools:
- Drag this file into a new chat, or copy and paste its contents
- Send your task or request as your next message — the AI will apply the skill where it fits
For Claude Code skill details: https://docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/claude-code/skills